The present invention relates to a self-powered toy animal. More particularly this invention concerns a toy animal of the wind-up type.
Toys are known which resemble animals and are capable of displacing themselves along the land or in water. Such a toy frequently is very limited in its function, so that its appeal for a child is similarly limited. Thus after a very short time a child is bored with his or her toy and abandons it.
In my above-cited copending patent application I describe a toy comprising a relatively small toy animal and a relatively large toy animal connected via a line to the small animal and provided in its interior with a reel drivable for reeling in the small animal. The large animal has an openable mouth through which the line extends so that as it reels in the smaller animal it appears to eat this animal.
As further described in my earlier application both of the toy animals are made to float and the smaller animal is formed as a fish. The larger animal may be another fish, a hippopotamus, a duck or a similar fish-eating animal. This larger animal has a body part and a face part hinged on the body part and defining therewith the openable mouth.
In the toy according to my earlier application the drive means is a spring windup mechanism carrying the reel to which the one end of the line is attached. This line may be a flexible string, chain, or other flexible relatively inextensible element. In order to simplify functioning of the device the spring windup mechanism is wound up simply by opening the mouth of the large animal and pulling the small animal out of the interior of the large animal. This causes the line to unwind from the reel and thereby winds up the larger animal so that when the smaller animal is released the windup mechanism will automatically reel it in. Means is provided as described in my earlier application for displacing the larger animal through the water or on the land. This means is connected to the drive means so that as the smaller animal is being pulled in the larger animal follows along behind it, appearing to pursue, catch, and eat the smaller animal. Such displacement means may be a paddle formed as a tailfin of a fish constituting the larger animal, paddles carried on feet of a hippopotamus constituting the large animal, or paddles constituting the feet of a duck that is the larger animal.
As further described in my earlier application the paddles of the displacement means are displacable through substantially 90 degrees between a position extending parallel to the normal direction of travel of the animal and backwardly therein in a position extending transverse to this direction. Thus as the element carrying the paddle moves forward the paddle swings into a position parallel to the direction of travel so that it does not tend to pull the large animal backwardly, but when moved in the opposite direction the paddle straightens out and gives the large animal a forward impetus.
The toy according to my earlier invention has a long-lasting appeal for a youngster, as it does more than simply paddle along the water. Furthermore, such a toy can be produced at relatively low cost and will have a long service life.